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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28905906">A Frigid Road To Friendship</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodOfWar/pseuds/GodOfWar'>GodOfWar</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Flirting, Frenemies, Gen, Hypothermia, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I don't know how to flirt and so they don't either, Inconvenient astronomical happenstance, Inspired By Tags, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Jötunheimr | Jotunheim, Language, Magic, Shapeshifter Loki (Marvel), Stray demon character, and most of them give me ideas, because @worstloki has too many of them, can't convince me otherwise, did I wrote a pairing I didn't even though about before at all in four hours?, in my head both of those things are not magic but biology, is that flirting?, no magic zone, yes yes i did</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:54:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,405</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28905906</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodOfWar/pseuds/GodOfWar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephen wanted to just get rid of a pesky pest of a demon before his morning coffee.<br/>Loki was poking at some 'real magic' and enjoying his peace and quiet.<br/>Getting stranded in Jotunheim was <i>not</i> in the plans.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Loki &amp; Stephen Strange</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Frigid Road To Friendship</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Stephen landed face down in the snow.</p><p>He could not breathe. The cold was so sudden so deep that his body sized up, caught him like a sleep paralysis. Aware. Unable to move. To cry for help. To call even the smallest spark of magic.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>"…you do that! Strange! Strange? Oh, that's just lovely. Get up mortal or you will expire sooner then you'd expect."</p><p>Truth.</p><p>Still, no amount of truth and Loki's grousing could change the fact that he simply couldn't make even one of his fingers to twitch. Hard shoe nudged him on the ribs. It felt like it was happening to someone else, his whole body growing numb to the point the belt that got out of its place thanks to few snapped threads and irritated the living hell out of him through the entire fight with some damned fire spitting half lizard demon, became downright comfy.</p><p>"Well, that's not ideal." The precious air he accumulated in his aching lungs got knocked out of him like a punch when a pair of hands picked him up and promptly threw him over steel-clad shoulder. Levi- the traitor, only patted him on the cheek and curled itself around him, wrapping him up like a burrito. "Don't you dare die on me magician. I will not be blamed for your incompetence."</p><p>Coming from death did not make Loki nicer. But to hear Thor, Loki's resurrected himself a couple of times before and none of them changed his propensity to dickish behaviour, so likely that was here to stay. Honestly, Stephen had no idea why Loki became an interdimensional magic consultant to Avengers. Or why he did get along with Guardians of Galaxy well enough to be invited to several trips and actually take them up on that offer few times.</p><p>The guy was an asshole.</p><p>He knew his magic, though - a fact Stephen could grudgingly admit, if only in safety of his own head.</p><p>They were alive right now only because Loki knew his magic.</p><p>Well, for all the value of <i>alive</i>.</p><p>The demon surprised him. Disposing of any normal ones would be a question of ten minutes tops in normal circumstances, but this one was different. Stephen went into that fight with a plan that worked on all the others without a single hitch and instead of tightly packed pile of smoking demon goo he nearly got to become said pile.</p><p>Stephen did what <i>any</i> sorcerer would do in his place. Surely. No doubt. He sent the demon to Loki's apartment to deal with, safe in the knowledge that Kamar-Taj and its treasures wouldn't became a wreckage. It would have worked beautifully too, if Loki wasn't right in the middle of some ritual, dressed up only in pyjama bottoms and sipping at his morning coffee. Needless to say, dropping an enraged demon into protective circle filled with potent magic with unprepared Asgardian trapped in the middle was not a good combination.</p><p>It was rather easy to forget that, while Loki wasn't built like a tank and didn't greet people with 'friendly' pat that strained each bone in persons body touched in this way, he was an overly strong alien. Apparently able to tear off limbs straight out of their sockets. Who knew?</p><p>Not the demon.</p><p>That being said…he was rather sorry for the state of Loki's home right now. Grateful for the wards, yes, but there will not be much left of anything after implosion like this.</p><p>Which rather brought him to the question of where exactly they had teleported to.</p><p>From his place, dangling like a piece of meat on the hook the most he was seeing was green cape. It trailed a bit over the snow, but did nothing to cover up the deep tracks left in the snow.</p><p>It was…not precisely dark, but not a day either. The shadows on his left side were deep and long but the light made the snow look nearly blue. Like moonlight.</p><p>His nose was killing him.</p><p>His skin hated him with passion.</p><p>Everything <i>itched</i>.</p><p>And he felt relived like rarely before because it meant that he was slowly regaining the feeling in his body once the shock has passed. That being said, if they won't get to somewhere warm pretty quickly, this time he won't even get to keep his fingers.</p><p>As if to answer his prayers Loki stopped rather suddenly.</p><p>"Wait here. I'm sure you'll find something to occupy your mind."</p><p>His perspective shifted and a second later he found himself propped against some kind of wall, watching with blurred eyes Loki standing over him with lips pulled into tight line. And then the other man was gone and if Stephen could get out a sound from behind his clenched teeth he would have called out, dignity be damned.</p><p>Panic, he knew, was exhaustive. Panic when already in rather not optimal state even more so.</p><p>He started feel the cold again, which was good.</p><p>He still couldn't move an inch, which was...less good.</p><p>But after several seconds? minutes? his jaw unclenched enough to let out something that could, if one had taken a pity on him, called a word. He repeated it. And did it again. And he definitely didn't blink off nearly frozen tears off his eyes at the sight of Loki crouching next to him.</p><p>"Shhhh! Not so loud, do you want to be buried under all that snow? Oh…are you supposed to be doing that?" Stephan's teeth decided that it was a great time to jingle like Christmas bells. He wondered what kind of temperature could those crazy aliens survive if this one was confused by the most obvious signs of hypothermia setting in. "I sincerely hope that this is not permanent because it's very annoying. I've found shelter and it's blessedly devoid of critters. Can you stand up?"</p><p>Stephen really tried. Being thrown over shoulder like he wasn't over six feet tall well build man but sack of feathers was undignifying at best. But since moving his head left and right took nearly too much energy to complete, he submitted himself to being picked up.</p><p>Oh, bride carry. Wonderful. He fucking always wanted to be lugged around by a prince charming.</p><p>He couldn't deny, that the way Loki unclasped his cape beforehand to cover him up was rather appreciated gesture. Nor that the smell of roasted apples and cinnamon that it gave off was tiny bit comforting.</p><p>Just enough not to hurl few chosen words at him as they made their way into the shadowy depths of an alarmingly <i>glimmering</i> cave.</p><p>He was laid down next to something delightfully warm, disturbingly furry and disgustingly smelly. Turning his head around to be able to identify the phenomena he came nearly face to face with a maw full of teeth. He froze, this time for all different reasons watching the terribly large amber eyes above the wolfish snout and only the complete lack of reaction told him that the beast was dead. And going by how warm it still was in this frigid landscape, it was still breathing bare minutes ago.</p><p>It was, and he was sure of it, the size of a rhino.</p><p>Toasty, too. He shamelessly put his hands into the white matted fur and didn't stop the whine at the needle sharp pain that went through them.</p><p>"Still alive?" Now that he could focus properly he finally heard it. The worry. Loki was worried. The sarcastic little shit actually gave a single damn over one Stephan Strange.</p><p>"Regardless of your best intentions." He ground out through chattering teeth. He was offered a quick razor sharp smile as the god unclipped his shoulder pad. He must have been at this for few moments, because he had a whole pile of armour pieces and weapons laid at his feet.</p><p>"One could hope." The seemingly last knife clicked on the littered ground. It was truly impressive how much he stashed in close-fitted armour summoned between growling binding spells and beating a demon with its own torn off limb. He made his way toward Stephen and without as much as by your leave grabbed his belt.</p><p>"What…?"</p><p>"It will get colder. Much. And we are stranded here for the time being." He made a rather quick job of stripping Stephen of every metallic thing, bar the Eye of Agamotto.</p><p>He refused to feel flustered over how not even a single coin was left unfound.</p><p>"In my culture it's customary to buy the person you're about to strip a dinner." Loki snorted, throwing bunch of keys and loose change next to his abandoned knives.</p><p>"In mine you kill something big for them." Stephen without consulting his brain looked at the head of the beast he was cuddled against.</p><p>Okay…Not getting into that. He ignored Loki's  shit eating grin and asked a question that was brewing for some time in his cold muddled mind.</p><p>"Why we are still here?" So maybe it was tiny bit petty to feel satisfaction at the way Loki's grin disappeared.</p><p>"Jotunheim moons conjunction." Loki turned his back toward the mouth of the cave. "It affects weather enough to cause horrendously cold nights, but it has rather unique effect on magic."</p><p>"Negative magic space." Loki turned toward him sharply, his features slack with soft surprise. He looked curiously…delighted. "Earth has it too. It's so very minimal that nobody would even know it is there if the more complicated earth-bound elemental magic wouldn't completely fail every supermoon."</p><p>"It's a rare phenomena." Loki stepped into the bluish light at the entrance, his face upturned, unbothered by the cold as the wind picked up his hair and threw it in disarray. He swept it off his face and grasped the strands in one hand. Voice barely louder then the chime of the wind and mournfully wistful. "Rare on this scale, anyway. I wanted to see it ever since I was a child. I begged Mother to let me come here, just for that one day. All the books we had in library, a total sum of eight, said that there was scarcely few things as beautiful as Blå Natt. Jotunheim has three moons. Every seventeen years they meet so close to the planet that the night turns into day for a whole six hours until Älskling - Beloved runs away chased by Pursuer - Förföljare while the Faithful -Trogen stays in the sky, waiting for the little Älskling each night until they part for years. They wrote...wrote about how the whole planet sings. There is little over an hour left…"</p><p>"What were the odds of us landing here today?" Asked Stephen, feeling like he already knew at least half the answer.</p><p>"I was thinking of this place for days. When I enclosed the demon in the failing spell this was the first door I’ve opened."</p><p>Loki sounded...far away. His posture stiff with shoulders climbing up to hide the column of his neck. Stephen wondered if Loki would've ever gathered enough will to come here on his own. If he would have chased the childhood whim and maybe sat himself somewhere high on the top of the mountain, surrounded by thick freshly fallen snow with only the sky littered with unfamiliar stars for company.</p><p>No. Probably not.</p><p>"For what it's worth, I'm sorry about the demon."</p><p>"Yes. And here we are."</p><p>"Here we are. And it looks magnificent, even from here."</p><p>It did. The world outside was bathed in opalescent blue. Like every shard of ice and snowflake turned into precious stones from lightness of angelite and aquamarine to deep tones of sapphire and lapis lazuli. Even the shadows in the cave seemed to gain midnight-blue tint. There was something tranquil in the blue painted cold of the land and chime of the distant winds. Like the whole world was holding its breath in preparation for of the nature greatest show.</p><p>"You will not speak of this to anyone." He threw confused look toward Loki but it didn't take longer then single blink to understand that the man did not meant the view. Loki's hand braced on the cave wall was blue. As was everything else about him. It was not the light of the moons, the shade of his skin too deep, the lighter patches too regular to be anything but Jotnar birth marks. </p><p>Well, that explained a thing or two...</p><p>Loki's fingers moved delicately in the air and the frosty flowers started to climb up from the ground before him, meeting up with the high ceiling and then enclosing them both inside with the masterful filigree over where the opening once was. Loki tapped it lightly. Snow fell on the ground soundlessly, leaving the surface clear as glass.</p><p>Stephen didn't realize how cold it was till the wind was left on the other side of the barrier.</p><p>"Do you wish to see?"</p><p>Stephen didn't answer. He painfully climbed up to his feet. Levi was unresponsive, a bit too much like a normal cloak to comfort, but he still patted it gently, winging Loki's green cape around them both. He was hurting everywhere, his breath misted before his face, he dreamed of cup of warm tea with splash of little something but he still made his way to the polished wall of ice.</p><p>He sat down.</p><p>Barely started when Loki's tall blue frame grew even taller and changed shape into one frighteningly similar to the beast he'd slayed. The enormous wolfish body laid down behind Stephen's back, with a huff of expelled air. It curled around him with ease, scorching hot and smelling of cinnamon and apples.</p><p>Stephen daringly put his hand behind one white-tipped ear and scratched gently.</p><p>And then turned his face toward the three moons raising above the mountain and wondered if he could stage another demon's attack somewhere seventeen years from now.</p><p>Or just seven days…</p><p>Loki was not the worst company he'd had.</p><p>Maybe his mind was addled by the cold or he'd hit his head rather hard, but as he gathered the green cape closer, curling up into soft neck, mindless of the very, <i>very</i> long tail thumping him gently on the legs and shark-sharp teeth shown when Loki growled, he felt he'd seen something much more rare then otherworldly astronomical happenstance.</p><p>He hid his smile at the fluffy tail that settled across his legs.</p><p>Yes. Much rarer then that.</p>
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